Reincarnation Romance: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

[[Seen It a Million Times|You know the drill.]] "A love [[The Power of Love|so strong]] it [[Reincarnation|conquered time!"]] <small>(and took no prisoners!)</small>

Two people love each other so deeply, and are tied by the [[Red String of Fate]] so closely, that they will meet and fall in love every time they [[Reincarnation|reincarnate]], lifetime after lifetime.

 

 

 

Even more complications arise if one of the two has been brought [[Back From the Dead]] via a [[Resurrected Romance]], rather than through reincarnation.

 

Compare [[Amnesiac Lover]]. See also [[Eternal Love]], which describes a different kind of very long-term relationship.

 

== Anime and Manga ==

** Of course... this is also only vaguely suggested to be reciprocated. {{spoiler|Lelouch's behaviour doesn't seem to suggest that he cares for her in a particularly romantic fashion.}} He does care... but more in the sense that he wants her to be happy with someone ''else'', thanks to their past history and stuff.

* They did this in ''[[Highlander the Search For Vengeance]]''. Technically, it was only the girl who reincarnated, since the guy was immortal, but same idea.

** So of course now this trope is abused by fanfic writers. Hojo is very much not like the title character, but the dramatic irony was fun to play with [[Dead Horse Trope|before EVERYONE did it.]]

* [[Schoolgirl Lesbians|Himeko and Chikane]] in ''[[Kannazuki no Miko]]''. And ''[[Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora]]''. And ''[[Zettai Shoujo Seiiki Amnesian]]''. They are not considered [[Trope Pantheons/Love|Goddesses of Yuri]] for nothing.

** There's another one in ''[[Please Save My Earth]]'' where one gender reverses, though it's more or less a one sided romance.

* Usagi and Mamoru as well as Haruka and Michiru in ''[[Sailor Moon]]''.

* In the [[Hentai]] OVA ''Yu-No'', [[The Ojou]] Miyo has a slightly sadistic, if caring [[Schoolgirl Lesbians|sexual relationship]] with the [[Shrinking Violet]] Canna. When, after much [[Time Travel]] and [[Alternate Universe]] jumping, {{spoiler|Canna is killed, Miyo performs a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] and is thrown back in time to long before the series' begin. It turns out, Miyo was already pregnant with Takuya's child at the time, who is born and named... Canna. Soon after the old Miyo dies, Canna meets the young Miyo and the [[Stable Time Loop|cycle begins again]], adding a slight [[Parental Incest]] note to it}}. Yep, you guessed it, it's a [[Mind Screw]] but [[It Makes Sense in Context]].

* Once an [[Our Angels Are Different|angel]] falls in love with someone in ''[[Wish]]'', it's ''forever''. And angels are immortal. It is ultimately revealed that [[God]]'s edict for angels not to fall in love with humans is an act of kindness for this reason. Nevertheless, the main couple (an angel and a human doctor) ''do'' fall for each other, so {{spoiler|God has to arrange for the angel to sleep inbetween his/her (they don't have gender) lover's reincarnation cycle, bound to a tree in the boyfriend's household.}}

** Considering he used the word "ai", which is effectively the strongest word the Japanese use for love, yeah, that's what he meant. It's also what Echo used for Amon and no one argues that she loves him.

* The plot of ''[[Oyayubihime Infinity]]''.

* Variation in ''[[Stray Little Devil]]''. It's directly stated that the main character is the reincarnation of the devil king that her grandmother met and fell in love with. It's not explicitly said they were lovers and that the main character is in fact her own grandfather; but the angel she falls in love with is the reincarnation of the Devil King's rival; the Angel Queen.

* Invoked and then avoided in [[Ikki Tousen]] ''Great Guardians''. {{spoiler|Chuubou}} is the reincarnation of {{spoiler|Koukin}}'s wife, and she actually confronts him about it and says she likes him that way too. However he is ''already'' in love with {{spoiler|Hakufu, the girl who's the reincanation of [[The Hero]] (and [[Kissing Cousins|his cousin]])}}, so he gently but clearly tells {{spoiler|Chuubou}} to not let her past life rule her love life. She immediately says "[[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy]]" and backs off.

* [[CLAMP]]'s [[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]. All over the place, seeing as this manga features tons of characters from their former series. Once a couple, they stay together. No matter what alternate world their alternate or reincarnated selves live in.

* ''[[Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru]]'' has Luka and Yuki, complicated by the fact that as a Duras (basically a high-level demon) is immortal and must wait a long time for Yuki to be reincarnated. When Yuki is reborn, it's as a man instead of a woman - which doesn't seem to faze Luka in the slightest, but Yuki is ''also'' reborn without any memories of his past life, including Luka.

* In [[NG Life]], Sirix died in Pompeii during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius (79 AD). In 2005, he is reborn as Keidai, a Japanese schoolboy. He finds his old love Serena but she is now a boy!

* Ultimately averted with France and {{spoiler|Joan of Arc}} in ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]].'' He {{spoiler|meets a young girl named Lisa who is all but stated to be his old friend Joan's reincarnation, but he treats her more like an old [[True Companions|True Companion]] who has just come back home after a long time, rather than a prospect girlfriend.}}

** This trope is one of the many interpretation of the HRE/Italy and the Germany/Italy situation.

* The whole plot of ''Hajimari no Niina''

* ''[[Flowers of Evil]]'': the manga starts off with the story of two lovers who are reincarnated as twins. This is what the twin protagonists like to believe has happened to them.

** [[Wild Mass Guessing]] has it that this is what happened with {{spoiler|Hinata and Yui}}.

* Heavily implied ''[[VS Knight Lamune]]&40Fire'' with Lamunedo and {{spoiler|Drum}}.

 

== Comic Books ==

* [[Hawkman]] and Hawkgirl are reincarnated Eyptian nobles who were murdered but found each other again in modern times.

** In fact, thanks to an [[Applied Phlebotinum|Nth Metal dagger]], they are both cursed to meet, fall in love, and die tragically in each life.

* After going to sleep inside the Sun for 80,000 years, Superman was reunited with a recreation of [[Lois Lane]] in [[DC One Million]].

 

== Film ==

* This is the basic plot of ''Dead Again'', {{spoiler|complete with sex-reversal}}. Roman and Margaret reincarnating and finding each other again, only the fact that a murder separated their last lives causes the reincarnation to go a little off until they discover the truth. Plus, there's a jewelry [[MacGuffin]] that facilitates them becoming a Reincarnating Romance.

* In the film ''[[Made In Heaven]]'', there is a Reincarnation/Incarnation Romance. After the male lead Mike (Timothy Hutton) dies in an [[Heroic Sacrifice]], he goes to Heaven and meets his [[One True Love]]: Annie (Kelly McGillis), a newborn female soul yet to be conceived on Earth. They fall in love and get married, but Annie is sent to incarnate for her first time on Earth; Mike chooses to reincarnate to find her, and is given 30 years to do so. {{spoiler|They find each other just as deal is about to expire.}}

* In Francis Ford Coppola's film adaptation of ''[[Dracula]]'', a Reincarnation Romance subplot was added, between the title character and Mina Harker nee Murray.

* They did this same thing in ''[[What Dreams May Come]]''. He loves her so much, he's able to pull her out of Hell, something thought to be impossible, and they live together in heaven until they decide to reincarnate, and find each other again as children.

* In ''[[Fright Night]]'' the vampire Jerry Dandrige believes that Amy Peterson is the reincarnation of a woman he loved long ago (mainly because Amy exactly resembles her, as shown by the woman's portrait). The movie doesn't make it clear whether he's correct or not, but the fact that he dies at the end indicates he was wrong.

* In ''Embrace of the Vampire'', the title character finds a woman who has the soul of a woman he loved centuries earlier and tries to turn her into a vampire. He also fails.

* Subverted in ''Chances Are''. The husband Louie, dies, but concots a way to be reborn instantly. Unfortunately, the hasty reincarnation means that his reincarnation, Alex, will still have all memories of Louie's life. 23 years after Louie's death, the memories come crashing down on Alex just [[Squick|as he begins a romance with Louie's daughter Miranda]]. He naturally cuts it off in favor of the mother/widow Corrine, much to the chagrin of Louie's best friend Phillip, who has loved Corrine this whole time and has helped her raise Miranda. [[Hilarity Ensues]]. However, {{spoiler|Louie realizes that he's had his time with Corrine, and her clinging to his memory is stopping her from having a relationship with Phillip. [[Convenient Coma|Alex is accidentally knocked unconscious]] and Louie uses that time to have his memories removed from Alex. When Alex wakes up, the last thing he remembers is kissing Miranda (which was literally right before Louie's memories emerged). He and Miranda get back together and Corrine and Phillip get together}}. Strangely, Corrine and Phillip {{spoiler|know that Alex is Louie reincarnated, but are still cool with Alex and Miranda (who doesn't know) being together}}.

* Hinted at in ''[[We Are the Night]]''. When Louise talks about her own sire, she states that she was looking for someone with the same glint in her eyes, hinting at the wish to find a reincarnation of her former companion.

 

== Literature ==

* Kind of the central premise of Katherine Kerr's [[Deverry]] series. Only the point is to *break* the cycle. 'cuz the lovers tend to mess up a lot along the way.

** Interestingly, of the original [[Love Triangle]], the man who originally won the girl is the one who is ''not'' reincarnated but becomes immortal but not unaging, and so ''is too old'' for the girl each time she reincarnates (and repeatedly falls in love with his rival). Once the cycle is finally broken, {{spoiler|both he and she die of old age and are now reincarnated and [[Happily Married]]. It's the other guy who's now unnaturally long-lived...}}

* Done and mixed with [[Rape Is Love]] on Laura Esquivel's ''Law of Love.''

* [[Peter David]] played with Arthur and Guinivere being this sort of love in ''[[Knight Life]]''. When Arthur turns up in present-day New York, he finds a woman named [[Steven Ulysses Perhero|Gwen Devere Queen]]. You can pretty much guess what happens from there, including her rat of a boyfriend Lance (soon to be a literal rat).

** Though, if as seems possible Elayne is a reincarnation of Ilyena, this trope applies to them and technically Lews Therin had similar feelings towards Mirien when he was alive as Rand does to Lanfear, so this trope might apply to them too.

* In ''Avalon High'', there are elements of this. The characters are reincarnations of those from [[King Arthur|Arthurian legend]], so the romances in Arthur legend apply to their reincarnations.

* The novel ''Time and Time Again'' features this, with the added bonus that (a) the guy remembers all of his past lives while the girl does not, and (b) he ''murdered'' her in a past life. And can't get over it.

* [[The Night Land]] by William Hope Hodgson: the romance that drives the plot, sending the narrator on a quest across the [[Mordor]]-like far future wasteland, is one of these, over a time span long enough for the earth to stop rotating and ''the sun and every star in the universe to die''

* There is a teen fiction novel by Suzanne Weyn aptly named ''Reincarnation''. The two main characters are reincarnated (along with their two friends/enemies) over and over until they finally get it right in the modern world.

* [[Spider Robinson]] used this in a short story about what happens when you combine reincarnation with cryogenics (with some [[Wife Husbandry]] mixed in).

** Notably, in the series, [[Mindlink Mates|lifebonds]] are sometimes known to last beyond death, and the [[Powers That Be|Gods']] penchant for reincarnating people all over the place means that this sort of situation pops up every now and then.

* Traci Harding has done this to death. Every. Single. Book.

* The ''[[Night World]]'' has this halfway. Vampires who are soulmates with a human tend to find that their soulmate is an "Old Soul", a person who reincarnates. In the case of Thierry and his soulmate, this is [[Earn Your Happy Ending|confirmed]], and in the case of Ash and Mary-Lynette, we just get the implication, as he notes that both Mary-Lynette and another old soul have the same look of age in their eyes, and then walks off happily. In theory, there is probably at least one pair of two old souls, but the readers aren't shown any.

* In Alyson Noel's ''Immortals'' series, Ever falls in love with Damen everytime she reincarnates. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] in that Damen, being immortal, actually seeks out each of her new incarnations.

* Subverted in [[The Mists of Avalon]]: Viviane and Uther would have been that kind of lovers, but they did not meet until it was way too late, and didn't like each other much. They were however lovers in a previous incarnation.

** So the gods changed them into a washboard and a grasshopper (iirc).

** They were also born on different continents. It's a testament to the power of their love (which never happened) that people still remember...er, speak of it.

* Secret Circle's Cassie & Adam are tied by a red string.

* Done beautifully in the book Reincarnation by Suzanne Weyn. Mainly because she writes every single one of the couples' lives as though they were short stories. And Of course there are gender and racial flips, {{spoiler|they don't even die at the same time. One of the characters met the other as an old man as the had died, as a man, in [[WW 2]].}} It is really amazing.

* The [[Allan Quatermain]] novels ''Ancient Allan'' and ''Allan And The Ice Gods'' reveal that Allan and Luna, Lady Ragnall were previously Count Shabaka and Princess Amada in [[Ancient Egypt]], and Wi and Laleela in [[One Million BC]]. Interestingly, Quatermain and Lady Ragnall don't have a relationship in the present day; in fact Allan finds his vision of Shabaka and Amada so awkward that he avoids meeting her again.

 

* {{spoiler|Saul and Ellen}} in ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]''. Twist: they're passionately in love but also ''bad influences on each other!'' Their equivalent of foreplay is borderline spousal abuse. She induces him to alcoholism and his presence tends to bring her [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulative]] and ambitious sides out. The interesting twist comes from him meeting and falling in love with another woman {{spoiler|because he thought Ellen was dead}}. You can guess how things went when it turned out {{spoiler|she's a Cylon and resurrected.}}

** Subverted with {{spoiler|Tyrol and Tory}}. Despite being engaged and madly in love the first time around, he shows no interest in her during the series. In fact, {{spoiler|when he finds out that she killed Cally, he kills her on the spot}}.

*** Arguably a Trill-symbiont law that the humanoid half of the society accepts as the symbionts' right to decide for themselves. Surely the slugs have the right to determine their own species' rules?

*** OTOH, that rule was a major law in one episode, and never mentioned before (or since?). It had been broken more than once before it showed up, including in the first Trill episode (''The Host'', TNG).

* Colombian [[Soap Opera|soap]] ''La Otra Mitad Del Sol'', which also involves the protagonists getting matching jewelry who were from their previous encarnations/lives, in this case a sun-shaped parted medallion from whom each lover has one half.

* ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'' uses this trope as part of its [[Les Yay]].

** This all falls apart when Mulder talks about being a Jewish woman and Cancer Man being a concentration camp guard in [[WW 2]]. Being in his fifties/sixties in the '90s means Cancer Man would have already been alive during the war, as either a child or a teenager.

*** William B. Davis was born in 1938. Shave of eight years from his age and it kind of fits.

* While we don't see one on-screen, the Minbari of ''[[Babylon 5]]'' believe that groups of souls can be bound together to relive great relationships or repair bad ones. Have fun with that one hideous breakup.

* [[Lois and Clark]], in the episode "Soul Mates", turn out to have previously been Lady Loisette and Sir Charles/the Fox in [[The Middle Ages]]; and Lulu and a [[Western Union Man|mild-mannered telegraph operator]]/the Lone Rider in [[The Wild West]].

 

* Si-Joon Lee and Mu-Yeon Park from the [[Manhwa]] ''[[Pig Bride]]'' are {{spoiler|the reincarnations of their ancestors, Si-Baek Li and his wife Lady Park.}}

 

== Music ==

* [[Michael Jackson]] 's song ''This Is It'' seems to be indicating this.

* The [[Barenaked Ladies]] song "It's All Been Done", which even speculates on the future lives of the singer and his love.

 

== Mythology ==

* Shiva's first wife Sati committed suicide by burning herself alive (because her father did not approve of her marriage to Shiva) with hopes she would be able to remarry Shiva in her next life (she does).

** Well she commits suicide because her father Daksha disrespected her husband and deliberately did not invite him to an important yagna though he invited all the other Gods. She thought that he had just forgotten to give an invitation, only to learn upon getting there that he had cut her off completely because he hated her husband. Angry at her own father's disrespect of her husband and vowing to be reincarnated with a father who understood her love of Shiva (see [[Honor Before Reason]]), she commits suicide by burning herself on the sacrificial fire. Her husband avenges her death though he does forgive Daksha and refused to marry anyone until Sati's reincarnation, Parvati sought him for marriage. So this story does have a happy ending.

*** [[Polyamory]]. A lot of hippies are into it, after all...

**** It doesn't say they'll always be lovers, [[The Cat Came Back|just together]].

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* Happens with Solars and Lunars in ''[[Exalted]]''. All Celestial Exalted reincarnate after death (well, [[Our Souls Are Different|it's a bit more complicated than that]], but that's the gist of it), and every Solar is bonded to a specific Lunar and vice versa. Such pairs are referred to as mates. Despite the name, it doesn't have to be a romantic relationship; any strong emotional bond can apply, ranging from [[Just Friends|close friendship]] to [[Foe Yay|intense hatred]]. If they're even remotely compatible with one another, though, chances are good that it'll be this. Of course, this isn't exclusive to Solars and Lunars; all Celestial Exalted have memories from past lives, and it's entirely possible to run into a reincarnated lover.

** There are also a number of subversions. For instance, each Lunar may be bonded with a Solar Exaltation and serve as that incarnation's boon companion... but half those shards have been corrupted by [[Omnicidal Maniac|the Neverborn]] or [[Eldritch Abomination|the Yozi]], meaning their mate is now bent towards hideous atrocities. However, this has been reconstructed, in that Abyssals (the ones corrupted by the Neverborn) can fight for and protect their Lunar mate without suffering [[Being Good Sucks|Resonance]], and it's been suggested a number of Infernals (the ones corrupted by the Yozis) will drop their masters' plans like a hot potato once they run into their Lunar mates.

** Alchemical Exalted likewise get a background that allows them to remember the past lives their heroic soul lived before it was put into a Champion of the State. It often allows them to reunite with old friends and lovers, and helps to resist the encroachment of [[The Spock|Clarity]].

 

* [[The Musical]] ''Aida'', based on Verdi's [[Opera]], added an epilogue in which this happens to turn the original [[Downer Ending]] into a [[Bittersweet Ending]].

** Made even better by the fact that the ending is part of the framing device of the show and the audience has pretty much forgotten about the beginning in the wake of what they expect to be the [[Downer Ending]].

 

== Video Games ==

* Sorta used in ''[[Fire Emblem]] 4'', Ishtar and Julius are similar in one way to Tiltyu and Azel in appearance and past in general.

** None of them are actually reincarnations though.

* Absolutely applies in [[Neverwinter Nights 2]] Mask of the Betrayer. The PC is carrying around the spirit of Akachi, who tried to bring down the god of death to save his beloved Nefris, who survived to the present and split off an aspect of her personality to form Safiya (curiously Safiya got all of the parts of Nefris that Akachi loved best), whose romance is implied to be the canonical plot ending for a male spirit eater.

* Implied in Adonis' ending of the [[Boys Love Game]] ''[[Silver Chaos]]''.

* In the first two DS ''[[Harvest Moon]]'' games everyone is an [[Identical Grandson]] of the characters of AWL]. In terms of the valley people, they fall in love with previous love interests. However the town people don't have feelings for their grandparents lovers apparently.

* The [[Kingdom Hearts]] series is implied to have this with the Riku/Sora/Kairi friendship/romance.

 

 

** The second to last page shows that though {{spoiler|they haven't met up in the real world, in their new lives, yet, they can still see each other in Nod until they do.}}

* Alex and Alison from ''[[My Life in Blue]]'' qualify as a platonic reincarnating love.

* ''[[Keychain of Creation]]'': Marena is firmly opposed to this, and refuses any serious relationship with Misho for fear that he [[Loving a Shadow|love her for who she was, not who she is]].

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'' runs with the Hawks being reincarnated, with the added twist that so is [[Green Lantern]], and it's suggested he's who Shayera is ''meant'' to end up with.

** after she falls in love with a male Hawk.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Narrative Devices]]

[[Category:Romance Arc]]